


Seashells and Parchment

by Xamem



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, F/M, Slow Burn, not sure what im doing?? its an adventure, pretty much everyone will show up eventually - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 09:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12909387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xamem/pseuds/Xamem
Summary: Avery just moved to Pelican Town, by far the biggest change she'd ever thought to make in her life. Unfortunately, every day is an anxiety attack waiting to happen. Can she possibly manage a farm and the ever growing anxieties of her mind?





	Seashells and Parchment

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this instead of my paper due Thursday because I'm having lots of Stardew Feelings and we'll see what happens

Avery hadn’t expected to be approached on the beach. She had come for peace, solitude; to watch the waves crash on the shore and prepare herself to go to the store. She’d only been in town a week, and the thought of exposing herself to more people than necessary was horrifying. She’d come to the beach to practice her words so she could get in, get her seeds, and get out as quickly as possible. And now this stranger was coming, a man she hadn’t seen in town before, and seemed to have every intention of starting conversation.

He stopped behind her and probably said something – maybe hello, she couldn’t tell. Maybe if she ignored him, he’d leave her alone. So she sat very still, curled up inside of herself, willing him to please just go away, please.

Counting ten waves, accompanied by ten breaths, Avery turned and was taken aback by the entirety of the man that stood behind her. He completely towered over her, by a foot at least, intimidatingly large. His honey blonde hair seemed to wave lazily in the wind on its own. But what really got her attention was his dress. Most people in Pelican Town seemed to dress practically – simple, comfortable clothes, homemade dresses. This man looked like he had walked straight out of a Victorian novel.

“Ah, hello,” he said, his voice sounding large and yet so far away. “You must be the new farmer.” She should have known that leaving the big city was a mistake. It was impossible to be anonymous in a small town.

Avery nodded, pushing her short brown bob out of her eyes. She had cut it just before moving. Too many changes at once, she realized now, but she couldn’t make her hair grow faster and she couldn’t bring her grandfather back.

A beat of silence. “Yeah, I, um, yeah. I’m the new farmer.” Did he really need more than that? Was she supposed to stand up, shake his hand? The people here were too friendly. Not that that was a bad thing, but their friendliness was the kind that required warm hugs and idle chitchat and entirely too much socialization. She had just wanted to watch the waves on the beach, the one part of town she thought was relatively unoccupied. “Do you want something?” she asked pointedly.

The man looked taken aback by her blunt rudeness. A little part of her felt kind of bad. (He just wanted to introduce himself, that was the polite thing to do, and why shouldn’t he say hello? Why did she have to be so incompetent?)

“No, I’m sorry for bothering you. I just came outside for a walk,” he said, gesturing to the old, dilapidated house behind them. “And I knew you were unfamiliar, so I thought I would say hello. I’ll go now.” He hurried off then, his dress shoes entirely unsuited for the sand, and Avery beat herself up mentally.

_Goodness,_ she thought, digging her fingers into the sand, _Avery, why are you so stupid? Now you look like this uppity jerk. He’s going to think you’re a snob. The worst. I bet he’ll tell everyone at the tavern how terrible you were. And then nobody will want to talk to you ever again. Maybe they’ll even kick you out of town. Maybe-_

“Hi, Avery!” The tiny voice snapped Avery from her rapidly spiraling thought process. She didn’t need to turn around to see who it was – with only two children in town, the little boy would have to be Vincent. If Vincent was here, then Jas wouldn’t be too far behind. The kids were sweet, but they were a lot to handle. Too much, after that run in with… Oh, he had never said his name. Well, then.

She smiled, a strained smile, but a smile nonetheless. Children had a special place in her heart, and she couldn’t crush the delighted smiles that they (or he, at least) had when they talked to the new farmer. She was an oddity, an exciting development in a sleepy town where most developments were corporate.

But she couldn’t possibly entertain them for more than a minute today.

Avery stood, brushing sand off her backside, trying to keep the smile on her face. “Hey you two. Done with school for the day?”

Vincent began to jabber on about this and that. Some bug he had seen on the way here, how Penny hadn’t let them go out and play for so long, how he really, really wanted some gummy candy. Jas quietly sat near the shore, sorting shells by color.

As soon as there was a lull in the chatter Avery stepped around him, patting him on the head. “Sounds great, buddy. I have to go water the crops.” She waved lightly and he waved back, turning to Jas, who started to open up to him as she walked away. So they had that in common, then.

At the little stone bridge leading to the beach stood the tall, strange, terribly handsome man, staring at the river, thinking of possibly everything but probably nothing. Avery froze, heart racing, trying to decide the best plan of escape. Everything was a dead end. The beach behind her was too small, and the woods to either side led nowhere. The only way out was forward, right past him. It hadn’t even been five minutes; there was no way she could let him see her again so soon, no way.

Standing there like a deer in headlights wasn’t going to solve a thing. Maybe he wouldn’t notice her. Maybe he wouldn’t say anything. She walked, her shoes making the most horrifyingly loud clacking sounds on the stone. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the man turn his head, and she walked so fast it was practically a jog, determined to look casual but not _too_ casual.

She didn’t breathe properly until she was back in her home, and she never bought the seeds she needed. They would have to wait until tomorrow.


End file.
